This invention relates to eyewear that incorporates a light source, or light sources to assist in visibility in poorly lit areas and, more particularly, to a user adjustable illumination system embedded within the eyewear frame that adapts well to a user's preferences as well as external visibility conditions.
The need for proper illumination of an item for viewing in a poorly lit areas is known, as is the use of lights and other illuminating devices attached to eyewear to create an illuminated surface. In general, assumptions are made regarding focal distances and light intensities when designing these devices. With reading glasses for example, these assumptions are often based on accepted norms such as average distance between the reading material and the eye glasses, and commonly used print, or font sizes. The result is a single light source, or multiple light sources that are either snapped on, or otherwise permanently mounted to existing reading glasses that uni-directionally focus the light to a predetermined focal range at a given intensity. Therefore the devices are not readily adjustable to either user preferences or reading conditions There are however many variables that non-adjustable reading lights do not account for, yet are necessary for creating a comfortable reading environment for the eyes. For example, a person's age or optical health determines how well one's optic nerve receives light and thus one's comfortable focal distance under variable lighting conditions. The type, color, and quality of the paper the reading material is printed on also affects the amount of light required. Newspapers and most books use a soft, off-white paper that absorbs light and minimizes glare. Magazines on the other hand are often printed on high gloss white paper that requires a lower intensity, diffused light source for maximum eye comfort. The amount and directional location of any ambient light also needs to be considered and adjusted for. The inability to adjust to these and other variables may result in increasing the potential for eye strain or eye fatigue rather than minimizing it. Accordingly, there is a need for lighted glasses that assist in reading in poorly lit areas. More particularly, reading glasses where the light source is fully adjustable in terms of light intensity and direction of the light beams. Furthermore, it would be desirable if the glasses would incorporate a single light source and power source for efficiency packaged in a non-intrusive, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing manner.
The limitations of using incandescent light bulbs for this application is known. More commonly this application uses LED's as the light source. LED's are a low power light source that offer a high lumen light emission. Prior art LED lighting devices that were attached to existing eye glass frames packaged LED's and their power sources independently, and then each package was mounted to the eye glass frame. One disadvantage in this prior art is that multiple power sources are required in addition to multiple LED's. Another disadvantage to this prior art is the package size of the external package. The size and location of the external mounted lighting devices can make wearing the glasses uncomfortable for the user. Furthermore, from an aesthetic point of view, conventional mounted lighting devices are cumbersome and may be considered unfashionable to users.
Additionally, these same constraints and variables may be applied in areas other than recreational reading as well. For example, many jobs require workers to perform their duties in poorly lit work environments in an area where it is impractical to bring in an external light source. One such example of this would be a repairman working on downed power lines at night. Accordingly there is a need for lighted protective eyewear that assists users in performing their job duties. Furthermore, it would be desirable that the lighted protective eyewear is fully adjustable in terms of light intensity and direction of the beams.
As will be seen, the invention accomplishes this in an elegant manner.